Hip-Hop Lit Is Hot
If you have a passion for hip-hop, you’re not just limited to writing features, interviews and reviews:
Hip-hop lit-also called urban fiction, street lit and ghetto lit-has been met with a fair amount of criticism. Some say these books glorify drug dealing, gang violence and prostitution. Others point out that many of the books are in dire need of good editors; urban vernacular aside, the books are often riddled with grammar issues ranging from poor syntax to missing end punctuation and quotation marks.
But despite the criticism, hip-hop lit is a moving force in the industry. Once sold on the streets and at independent booksellers, these books now can be found in Wal-Mart and major bookstore chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble. Large publishing houses such as Simon & Schuster, Random House and St. Martin’s Press also are taking notice by signing up hip-hop authors for various imprints and divisions. And recently, rap artist 50 Cent joined with Pocket/MTV Books to produce a new line of street lit called G-Unit Books. Hip-hop authors Nikki Turner, K. Elliot and Noire are slated to write the first trade paperbacks.
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